ASUS chairman Jonney Shih has announced that his company is pulling away from Windows RT. The chairman says that one of the only bets he's made in the technology industry that didn't pan out was Windows RT.

Shih isn't saying that ASUS is ruling out future Windows RT products, but his company is putting the bulk of its energy and money into devices running Intel chips.

ASUS isn't alone in pulling away from Windows RT; Lenovo recently discontinued online sales of its Yoga 11 Windows RT tablet. Microsoft itself is also facing challenges in selling Windows RT devices and recently cut the base price for its Surface RT tablet to $349 in the U.S.

ASUS chairman Jonney Shih [Image Source: NYT]

Microsoft was also forced to take a $900 million write-down due to its inability to sell sufficient volumes of the Surface Tablet.

Shih also pointed a finger at Microsoft for missteps with Windows 8, noting that one of its most popular apps is one to bring back the classic Start menu (this “misstep” is being addressed with Windows 8.1).

ASUS recently unveiled a new machine called the Transformer Book Trio running both Windows and Android operating systems. The chairman also noted that ASUS is considering building 10-inch and eight-inch Windows tablets, but admits the 10-inch may be the better choice.

I'm not bitching about the start menu, just commenting on the differences between what Microsoft is saying and reality. I happen to love Windows 8. Go through my comment history and you'll see I'm an unabashed supporter of Windows 8. But after nearly a year on the market and people still bitching about the start button it is time to realize that some people cannot and/or will not tolerate this type of change. Microsoft thinks they are addressing the issue with 8.1 and they are not.